Ox turns 5

The much anticipated "five birthday" was upon us just two weeks after a hectic move to San Diego. Since he doesn't really know anyone here yet, we had just a couple of family friends over, with all their children, and it felt like a big party. He is so funny with the cakes! Ever since last year's feat of processed sugar architecture, the kids think they can just describe any shape or theme to me and I will turn it into cake stuff. They are too young to remember that last year's pirate ship was the only traditional sort of birthday cake I have ever had turn out like it was supposed to. I usually stick to cheesecakes and others that actually taste good, but kids start to get to be an age that they want a neon-colored marginally edible birthday cake and what can you do? So here is my best attempt at a Jeep cake for Ox. It looked alright, but it tasted awful.

Ox is very into Legos and Star Wars this year so I got him a pretty advanced ship because it was so dang cool. I think the box said it was for seven- or eight-year-olds. Turns out, the Lego people aren't just whistling Dixie when they suggest those age limits. He loves his ship, and I thoroughly enjoyed the two afternoons it took me to first put it together, then take it apart to fix something that was getting in the way of the wing motion, then put it back together again. Good stuff.


Last year's masterpiece. If you are one of the three people who haven't heard how I started my son on fire while lighting his canon candles, let me know and I'll tell you. It will make you feel like a really good parent.



My top 5 favorite things about my oldest child:

1. He is the most loving and forgiving person.
2. He almost never throws tantrums, but when something means a lot to him and it happens to get disregarded, forgotten, or overlooked his heart breaks so sincerely and I find myself pausing in my business (unfortunately, I am usually the one disregarding, overlooking or forgetting), then scrambling to help make happen what he is trying to do. He is the kind of kid that you just want to help make happy, because he is so sincere and non-bratty about it.
3. He loves his brother and sister fiercely.
4. His round brown eyes are completely guileless.
5. Whenever we go to the beach, he has the same routine: as we get close, he drops everything he is holding, dives into the sand with abandon, and starts making "sand angels". Then, he runs around on all fours at top speed like an ape until he is exhausted and lies flat on his back to make sand angels again. It is one of the most happy, childish, energetic displays I have ever seen.
6. He loves his treasures. And he treasures the most unexpected things. We make boxes to house these things and he sleeps with the boxes.
7. He loves sand dollars as much as I do and I can trust him not to crush them when we find one.
8. He wakes up happy. Always has.
9. He says the best prayers, including things like, "Bless us to die when we're supposed to, bless us to not eat too much candy, bless us to not have runny noses, bless us to find my super fast fancy car."

Fine. That was more than five things.